A Fresh Look at Key Trends and Business Fundamentals
“Always resist the usual – strive for a fresh look at key trends and business fundamentals.”
As management consultants we have made this motto our business philosophy and apply it to steer client vision and drive consultant value delivery. In our experience, people acting within organizations resemble one another across the globe, in that they prefer to stick within theircomfort zones. Since it is increasingly becoming clear that this is no longer a viable way to do business in a rapidly fluctuating world, our mission is to motivate others to take a fresh approach to business basics and to have a new perspective on the latest trends.
With this vision in mind, this issue of the Tefen Tribune provides readers with food for thought and practical tools to effectively manage their own businesses. The articles shed new light on some currently popular business fundamentals such as branch performance management, human resources strategy, supply chain management in healthcare; SG&A cost optimization, and sustainability.
As usual, we open with an interview, this time with Stanley T. Myers, President and CEO of the SEMI organization. While talking about the emerging trends in the semiconductors industry, Mr. Myers provides a fresh look at some commonly
discussed topics in this dynamic sector, including the sensitive issue of tax incentives as the driving force behind the move of manufacturing companies to Asia. Our view on this insight, for example, is that highlighting these trends will encourage western management and policy makers to at least partially revise their geo-political and macro-economical approaches to global competition.
The first article “Getting the most out of your branch network”, challenges the reader to rethink accepted practices of improving business branch performance. In a “business as usual” approach, benchmarking has generally been the standard answer. The authors argue that this method is only good if the benchmarks are properly selected, and that data-driven performance indices relate better to the underlying causes of unexpressed potential. This pragmatic approach helps you to choose which branches to invest in and which not.
The article “Human Capital Strategy – a New Angle on HR” provides new stimuli for strategically managing human resources. This is another one of those issues which has been analyzed many times, but how many executives can honestly say that their HR strategy effectively supports their business strategies? And has your organization really embedded the mechanisms and processes to do that over the long term?
The article “Achieving Healthy Material Management”, tackles well known challenges in hospital supply chains, providing a toolbox for optimum management of these activities.
Another “best seller” among the business issues – SG&A cost optimization – is addressed in the fourth article “Sustainable SG&A Cost Cutting – a Measure with Significant Effects but Little Recognition”. The author’s key idea here is that SG&A cost optimization relies upon three “pillars”: a “paradigm shift” in terms of centralized vs. decentralized approaches; a coherent and subsequent reduction of controllable expenses and a bottom-up/top-down change management approach.
Ways of structurally and effectively embedding sustainability into an organization’s business model is the main theme of the last article “Incorporating Sustainability into Strategy”. Here the reader is challenged to pinpoint the key frameworks and approaches necessary to move from “organizational green washing” (using the green approach for only superficially effective initiatives), to make sustainability one of the fundamental paradigms of their own business.
So we can see that these articles all highlight a new angle on some of the business fundamentals in our constantly changing world. The general consensus is that we need a fresh approach to making corporate structures, “lean and green” or in other words, efficient and sustainable. We hope that the ideas proposed will encourage our readers to review their own strategies in everyday business life, and to take this approach even further.
Enjoy reading!
By Fabio Nicolò, Associate Partner, Tefen Italy
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